Last Of Your Kind
by LovinAllThingsAnimated326
Summary: This isn't a story about heroes. Well, I guess some of it is. Nor is it about how me, a reckless Lombax and a tin-canned rust bucket stopped a greed-driven maniac in a suit, and a brainless wimp the universe hails as a hero. Well, it kinda is. But mostly, it's how I found two of the greatest friends a girl can get. (Based on 'Ratchet and Clank')
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It is said that before time itself, there were powerful beings who watched over the universe. These beings were descended from an ancient race that were gifted with unimaginable power and strength. Some had the power of people-speaking, others the tactical knowledge of the battlefield. The rarest, though, were the Benders, beings who could literally bend the fabric of time and space to their will. However, with their great powers came great responsibility. They had the power over life and death, over good and evil.

This power was originally intended to be used for the good of the people. Some time passed, and these beings lived peacefully with the simple-minded races who recognised them as their protectors. However, not all of the Benders used their powers for good.

A few Benders, known as the Dark Ones, were out-casted by their brothers for their use of the black arts-such that could only bring death and destruction. Angered, they joined forces and lay waste to the universe, enslaving countless galaxies and either slaughtering the inhabitants they were supposed to protect or turning them into un-dead minions who would obey every word and order of their new masters. Eventually, their power became so great they could destroy every planet with its entire population in a blink of an eye. These were truly the dark days of existence.

But somehow, one day, the universe woke up to discovering that all the Dark Ones were gone. Along with the remaining Benders, they had vanished. It was as if all records of them were erased from existence. But their deeds were not forgotten.

After their disappearance, the people of the many enslaved galaxies regained control over their planets again, and what was once the peaceful race who sought to bring justice and compassion to the galaxy were regarded as the most evil beings that had ever set foot in this dimension. If you asked anyone today about these beings, they would tell you forests of lies, passed down from generation to generation spreading the eternal stories of fear and hate. Why would they do this you say? People fear what they do not know. And boy, it is best if they never knew.

You must be wondering why I am telling you this. Why is this so important to me you ask? I shall tell you why. My name is Jinx, Daughter of High Priestess Astraea of the Pyxkiz, and I am the last Bender.

**Okay, this is my first fan-fic, so please go easy on me-I'm new to all of this ****. **


	2. Begin the Tests

In some dark forsaken bunker in the Solana Galaxy, a strange being hid among the shadows. The murky grey walls that surrounded her still held strong despite its appearance. The only way out was a study-looking door, with a small hatch at the bottom to send in meals. Several rotting wooden beams only just held the roof together, with small droplets of water dripping onto the stone floor which after a few days could drive anyone insane. Somehow, the being survived this irritating ordeal, and continued to stare at a small hole in the towering walls with her grey tail waving from side to side impatiently.

After several minutes of waiting, the moment she was waiting for came. Several small rays of light found their way through the cracked bricks and momentarily lit up the dark space. The being swiftly leapt up from its resting place from wall to wall, until grasping a small crack just opposite the hole the light emitted from Several beams of light shone onto her, giving her a slimmer of warmth and comfort and showing her hidden features.

She was wearing an orange jumpsuit that was in long need of a good wash, which covered most of her grey furred body. Her amethyst coloured eyes hid behind long blue hair, with a small nose sniffing the air. Her tail was continuing to swing around, and for a while the sunlight revealed the sharp knife-like tail end, which gleamed when the light caught in it. It also showed numerous blue symbols printed onto her tail, arms and legs.

As the light continued to move upwards, she held her hand up, as if trying to grab the sunlight to keep for itself. The rays, however, lifted up out of her reach, and then disappeared, sending the room into darkness again.

The being sighed and leapt back down to the ground. As she lay back down in a sleeping position, she could just about hear the rough breathing of two heavily armed, but completely spineless and brain-dead guards. "Another day in the dump." She thought, then closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Her sleep was abruptly interrupted by the sound of a lock mechanism clicking away. "ACCESS GRANTED. WELCOME HIGH PRIEST BISHOP." The being fought back the urge to growl at the figure that would soon enter her domain. But it wasn't as if she could actually stop him. The door opened, revealing Bishop standing in the doorway with a dim light from the large bulbs behind him leaking through.

It was not understatement that he was lacking in figure. The being could only say that this man was probably the gigantic blob of a creature she had ever seen-and that was being polite. The tight fitting tuxedo only managed to keep all of Bishop's pink flesh from bulging out at the sides, and was matched by a smart pair of brown shoes. There were several deep wrinkles on his face, and his gelled black hair didn't do anything to hide it. No doubt 48 was the one who caused those, but it still gave her comfort that she was slowly driving them insane. It was beyond her how he still managed to walk around without any assistance and even more how he could still fit through the door frame, but hey, life's full of surprises.

Two Blargain guards stood closely behind Bishop, with blank expressions on their faces. One of them exchanged a whisper to the other, before both took a quick glance at 48. They snickered softly. 48 rolled her eyes. Man did she hate them.

"Good morning 48." Bishop mused, in a smooth deep voice. "I trust that you slept well." 48 put on a fake smile.

"But of course." She said though gritted teeth, "It's not like sleeping in a damp, rotting tower is at all comfortable."

Bishop's smile wandered for a split second, before regaining its original position. "Come child. It is time for work." 48 followed him outside, taking the chance to scowl at the reptilian guards at the tower door, who snarled back in response.

The tower that she called home was connected to the main side of the bunker. From all sides there were narrow brightly lit corridors which all led off into different directions. Sometimes the echoes of the daily patrols marching their boots against the panelled floors could be heard, but other than that there was total silence.

The two Blargain guards who were snickering at her cut off her view of them, and waved their hands at the reptiles. They soon left their posts to get something to eat, using the opportunity to shove 48 to the wall. Their laughs echoed throughout the corridor.

The Blargain guards behind her snickered again, then grabbed her wrist and threw her forward to keep up with Bishop's slow pace. Bishop started to mutter words under his breath before turning to 48.

"I do hope you remember your last appointment with the Energy Department." She recalled the last time she went there. A couple of weeks back, she was sent into a small room that stunk of disinfectant and bleach. It was filled with tables, large contraptions and grey computers with funny codes on them. But the thing to worry about was the large spherical bubble in the middle of the room with several small wires leading off and entering various machines and equipment surrounding it.

Bishop smiled at the girl's face. "Good. You will be spending all day in there for the next month or so."

Her ears dropped. "Wha-, why?"

A guard behind her bared his sharpened, yellow teeth at her. "Do not ask questions 48. Remember your place." Bishop continued. A familiar feeling of anger and hatred rose up inside her, but she retained from attacking. After all what good would that do? Instead she looked down to the floor. "Yes sir."

"Look up when addressing me. And say it properly."

"Yes High Priest-" Bishop's flabby hand swung across 48's face, causing her to stumble sideways. He grabbed her by her jumpsuit and pulled her up to his height. "You will remember your place here 48. You are a worthless piece of trash that doesn't deserve to exist. Talk to me like that again and your punishment will be even more severe. Understood."

"Yes High Priest Bishop." She repeated. His grip loosened and she dropped to the floor. The familiar snickering behind her started again. Bishop walked over to a nearby door panel, and absent-mindedly keyed in a pass code. The door opened, and both Bishop and 48 walked in closely followed by the guards.

It was definitely the same room alright. The large bubble was still there, but with even more machines around it. This certainly didn't look good.

A skinny man walked up to Bishop. He had a pair of dorky glasses hanging off his nose, and a recently ironed lab coat on matched with some black polished shoes. He started to mutter some words to him, and then turned to 48.

"Please go into the Genome Volt and we shall begin." He said in an authoritive voice, motioning towards the bubble in the centre. 48 narrowed her eyes.

"And if I don't?"

The scientist waved his hand at the two Blargain guards, who swiftly knocked her to the ground, and kicked her from all sides. 48 curled into a ball, trying to protect herself from the kicks. The other scientists inside the room merely observed the brutal beating, or carried on with their work. Bishop calling over the guard's grunts. "You can have that attitude all day 48 and you'll be in the same position as you are now."

After several agonising minutes the men stopped and stepped back, revealing a very bloody and bruised figure, trying to move onto her feet. "Shall we get this done now," the scientist lazily responded. "I have much better things to do than be around an Exo." She growled softly, earning her another kick in the gut by a polished boot.

"Now what do you say 48." Bishop cooed.

"Yes sir. I will do as you please."

He smirked. "Make sure you do."

The two guards dragged 48 to the Genome Volt, threw her in then slammed the door shut. 48 lay curled on the floor before closing her eyes. From what she could remember when she was last in here, it was beyond excruciatingly painful.

"Now then," the scientist stood by a computer. "This will hurt-but you already know that don't you."

As he flicked a switch beside him, a sharp pain rocketed though 48's body. She hissed and grunted in pain as her body violently swung back and forth. All the while a vivid white light shot out of her body and into the wires surrounding her. The machines around her beeped loudly, and flashed many bulbs of red light.

"Going up to level 2 sir?" a surrounding assistant called.

"No," the scientist called back, "Turn it to the maximum. Give her a taste of what's to come."

The assistant obeyed, and turned a dial in a semi circle, with a small arrow facing a large 10 written in bold font. 48 could do nothing as her head shot back, sending her screams echoing all throughout the bunker.

**Alright, this is the first chapter. If anyone's wondering what 'Exo' means I will reveal it later on, but it's kinda like an insult. **

**Please review so I know if this is an EPIC fail and if I should even bother continuing. Or to say if it's not actually as bad as I think it is. Either way...PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. Wishing

**Wishing**

After the testing, 48 was soon thrown back into her cell with the same reptilian guards resuming their positions by the door. After what felt like hours, she hoisted herself up onto a wall and started to examine the various injuries on her body.

"Bruises on the arms, gash on the leg and right arm, blistering headache-could be worse." She mused. A jolt of pain passed through her tail. She rolled her eyes.

"Of course. You just had to say that, didn't you?" 48 sighed and got to work on the wounds on her leg and arm. She unzipped the top part of her jumpsuit and took it off, leaving the arm holes dangling on the stone floor. There was a small white vest covering her torso which sadly wasn't too white anymore. Instead it was covered in small dry patches of blood from her earlier beating and heavy with grime and sweat.

Grabbing her throbbing tail end, she slashed the material on both arm holes into strips then tied them to the wounds. Then she put the arm holes back in. The blue symbols up and down her arms were in clear view, now that there were no sleeves left. The bruises were hidden underneath her fur, but did make her arms look very swollen.

She lifted her head upwards. Wouldn't it be nice for one day if she didn't have to do any tests? Or to see Bishop the Blob? Or to be treated like dirt? No, what if she could go outside even for a second and just take in that fresh air she hears blowing against the tower's structure. She closed her eyes for a moment, imagining the scene. Fresh specks of blues and purples with long strands of green waving in the breeze. Or the Great Star's light shining on her; oh she could just feel the warmth glistening on her fur. Maybe if she could think hard enough, she could just...

The electronic beeps of the keyboard outside the door brought her back into reality. "ACCESS GRANTED. WELCOME HIGH PRIEST BISHOP." She opened her eyes in annoyance. "Ugh, why does he always come in at the wrong times?" she thought with a grimace.

When the large metal door opened, Bishop stumbled into the cell and stood in front of 48. He started to tap his foot, waiting for her response. "Welcome High Priest Bishop." 48 said with a sigh, "What calls you at this time?"

He smiled at her obedience. "I just wish to speak to you about the increase of testing with the Energy Department." He started to pace to the far corner. 48 kept her eyes locked onto his figure. "I am sure you are aware of our Chairmen's wishes for our people." He glanced at 48 for a split second, taking in her confused look. "Of course you don't. And there will be no need for you to. Besides, I doubt your Exo mind would be able to understand it anyway."

She was tempted to release a growl, but recalled her earlier punishment for doing so and held it back. "The Chairmen's plans for us require a large amount of machinery-which all need to have a reasonable amount of power to sustain them. However, our past attempts to harness such amounts of energy have been...unproductive. This is where you come in." Bishop turned to 48.

"A decade ago, we found that your body could sustain large amounts of electric shocks to which such energy required for the machinery can be extracted. That was what the white aura around you yesterday was. Of course, you were too young back then, your body weak. The shocks would have killed you. Not anymore however.

Once your body has reached its maximum endurance point, we will transport you to the machinery's location, where we will continue to extract the energy."

Bishop bent down to 48, and put his face right up close to hers. "Try to resist the shocks will reduce the amount of energy produced and will result in punishment-which you know isn't given out sparingly."

"What will become of me then?"

"We shall deal with that when we come to that. Now, we will continue the tests." Bishop walked out towards the door. "Remember your place and the Chairman might go easy on you."

He smirked. "Hmph, _might_." The door slammed shut behind him, leaving 48 in darkness again.

She closed her eyes in sadness. So that was why they kept her alive for so long. All those years, that pain, that anguish, this was what it ended up to? She moved over to her side, and felt for the stone wall. After feeling each brick, she finally came to one which wiggled slightly. After a bit more encouragement, it fell out of place to reveal a hollow space. She had thought about trying to make an escape route out of this when she found it several years back, but she knew that it would be extremely likely that a large area of loosened bricks would be noticed by Bishop during one of his 'unexpected' visits. Instead, she kept it the way it was, and held her most valuable possession inside. A small turquoise pendant lay inside, with a thick platinum chain. She carefully took it out, and listened out for the guards. They were snoring away. Typical. They'd be out for at least several hours.

She took held of the chain end on the pendant and twisted it around four times like a key, before she heard a soft _click_. The pendant opened to show a small projector. A soft humming sound came from inside before a bright turquoise light emitted out, showing a 10cm tall man, hovering just slightly above the pendant. He had bold facial features, most striking were his cheekbones, and a good overall build. He had a blue and white mechanic's workshop overalls on, with brown gloves and shoes. A pair of grey ears shot out of a maroon pilots hat with brown goggles. He had a similar tail to 48's, but not bearing the blue symbols she had on her tail.

"H-ELLO? Anyone there?" His raspy voice called out, as he mimicked put his hand to his ear so to try and hear a response. "Just sayin' I'll be back early tonight sweetheart and I'm bringing dinner. Don't worry, it'll be some of that organic mush you like." He blew a kiss, "Love ya." A small beep sounded before the man disappeared, replaced by a women with the similar grey fur, ears and tail to his, wearing a knee height dress with floral patterns, black ballet pumps, and long locks of wavy blue hair.

"Hiya honey," she purred. Her voice was delicate and smooth. "Wanted to check up on you. Someone from the factory called up today, so I told him to leave a message. Something about those parts you needed." A loud wailing came from behind her. She turned around momentarily before looking back. "Well, I'll see you tonight, hon. The baby's calling. Kiss kiss."

The recordings continued on, with the man speaking a few sentences before being replaced by the woman. As the hours passed on, sniffles came from 48, with tears silently running down her eyes. They continued to play over and over until the early hours of the morning.

* * *

Several planets away, a familiar looking Lombax with golden striped fur came out of a steel trailer with a small robotic companion following closely behind. "Captain Quark sure seems eager for us to help him, hey Clank?"

"Yes, it seems that we are closer to getting the Captain to help us defeat Drek." Clank chimed. He had seemed very upbeat about finally meeting the Captain in person. Ratchet, however, wasn't as happy. Sure it was great that the Captain had personally said that he had the makings of a hero but it did seem odd that they still had to prove themselves to him. After all, it wasn't like they'd been lounging around catching some Z's.

Someone came running up from behind them. The bulky bodyguard that had been so eager for a pay-rise earlier bounded up to them. "Oy, you two." He cried out. Ratchet shook his head. "We've already paid you to see Quark. Our business has finished."

"But I've got you fellas somethin' that'll make the boss even happier." The bodyguard wheezed. Clank's sensors perked up. "Go on." He said, facing the bodyguard.

"While I was on duty yesterday, some toothpick came up tryin' ta get to the boss." He held up a small infobot. "Said this here trashcan had somethin' important 'im."

"Then why exactly do you have it sir, if it was meant for Captain Quark?"

He stuck his chin out proudly. "Cause I didn't believe his story. And I sent 'im ta the nearest 'ospital. Can't trust anyone with those paparazzi around." He smirked, "Even if it was my brother-in-law."

"So...uh...can we have it?" Ratchet asked with his hand out. The guard held it above their reach. "Well...you boys are good 'n all...but I'll need some...er...compensation for it. It could fetch me quite a penny with the reporters." Ratchet groaned. "Fine, how much for the bot?"

"Hmm, for you I'll do a thousand bolts."

"A THOUSAND BOLTS?!"

"Course, if it's too steep for ya..."

Clank tugged at the Lombax's pants. "Ratchet, we need that infobot. It could be of great use to us."

The guard grinned. "Ya little friend's quite the smart one, huh."

"Fine!" he took out the bolts in a small bag and handed them over to the guards muscular hands, "Here's you 'compensation'."

"Cheers fellas." He threw the infobot into the air as he went back to the trailer, "I'm _pretty_ sure that was the right bot anyway."

Ratchet groan again. The small infobot was shaking his head in a daze. "Alright little guy, let's see what you got." The infobot opened a large screen in his head.

* * *

A recording flashed on the screen. On one side was Chairman Drek standing with a background of his ship, and the other a very large Blargain man with a tight fitting tuxedo.

"I assume the testing has gone well Bishop." Drek cooed in a smooth, calm voice.

The Blargain shuffled nervously. "Well, the testing's have gone well Chairman but-"

Drek smiled triumphantly. "Very good. I will send for a space carrier to import the source over."

"No, no sir. It just that...well we haven't...I mean our scientists haven't..."

"Spit it out man!"

"We are having trouble controlling the source sir." The scientist finally got out. He silently observed the apparent steam coming out of Drek's ears. "It's just very hard to keep in order, and doesn't seem to-"

"Enough!" Drek shouted sending the Blargain man cowering. Drek smoothed out his suit and loosened his tie slightly. "I hope you know what's at stake here Bishop. I need that power source for the plans. You will control the source by any means possible or I will personally come over there with my elites and shut you down-_permanently_. Am I understood?"

The Blargain slowly stopped shaking. "Y-yes s-sir. We'll s-send the source over s-soon when we've got s-sufficient amount of the energy."

"Good. Make sure you do."

* * *

The infobot flew into Clank's small compartment in his tiny torso. "Ratchet, did you see that?"

"Yeah, Drek really needs to get his temper under control."

The small robot shook his head. "Not that! Drek is using an energy source to power his weapons and machinery! If he gets enough power then we will be fighting a losing battle. We must find the source and destroy it!"

Ratchet waved his hand. "Ah, sure. Download the coordinates. We'll go just after we give this prize to Skidd's agent." He said, holding up the 'Platinum Zoomerator' he had won recently. He slowed to smell himself. "Huh, _and_ get a shower."

Clank exhaled as he hurried along with his new companion. Why did he have to be stuck with the only life-form that didn't seem to care about anything but itself?

**Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. I really appreciate it ****! I would have updated sooner, but I haven't had any WiFi for the past day and a half.**

**Just to let you know, I may change the rating for this since some chapters that I've already written seem a bit violent.**


	4. Break-In

**Break-in**

Several hours after going to see Skidd's agent had passed. He seemed very happy to see that they had got back to him. He even gave them a Sonic Summoner! Though Clank didn't seem very impressed by the fact that he gave them something that attracted mice that tries to kill them. At all.

Now they were speeding towards Orgia, a small planet at the edge of the Solana Galaxy. Apparently, that was where the power source was being held. There wasn't much information about the planet despite Clank searching his database-twice.

"Still nothing?" Ratchet called from his seat. Clank shook his small head. "Nothing. It seems that Drek has done well to hide the planet from the authorities. It is like it doesn't exist!"

There was a small explosion behind them. Ratchet's eyes darted behind him in confusion. Three dark ships behind them were starting to take fire onto their small orange striped ship.

"Let's hope that salesman wasn't lying about this scrap junk being study!" He pondered as he increased speed. The ships started to enter Orgia's stratosphere. When they came closer to the planet surface, they could see hundreds of turrets on the planet surface-all aiming at them.

"This is bad." Clank said.

Ratchet cranked up the engine. "Alright. Let's see what this baby can do."

Ratchet nimbly flew over the planet's defence system with the attackers close behind them, the turrets shooting like crazy. One of the unlucky pursuing ships was soon shot down by some rogue bullets, and burst into flames before it hit the ground. The two remaining ships stayed locked onto Ratchet's ship. "Damn, do these guys ever give up?" He pulled the ship into a halt, with the two ships zooming past him. Now they were directly in firing range. In a few shots both the ships were blown to smithereens.

"There, that'll teach them." Ratchet cheered, pumping his fist into the air.

"We are not out of the woods yet Ratchet. We must still reach the bunker." Clank responded.

"Right, right. Hold on, this is going to get bumpy." The ship navigated its way though more turrets, just missing the hurricanes of lead aiming at them. Ratchet fired more shots into the lines of turrets sending several exploding simultaneously. Suddenly, a loud crash to the ship's side started to bring it down. Smoke began to pour out left wing. Ratchet desperately flicked switches and pulled the wheel up to stop the nose dive.

"Clank! We've lost one of our engines! This thing isn't gonna hold up much longer!"

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Before he could reply back, several turrets began to shot at the remaining engine. That too sent out an explosion, and sent the ship into a deadly nose-dive.

"Alright Clank, get on. We're gonna eject!" Clank sat up and pulled himself onto the Lombax's back before Ratchet slammed a button besides him, sending both he and Clank up into the air with a hidden parachute bringing them slowly floating to the ground while their ship hit the planet floor in a ball of flames.

When they finally reached the ground, Ratchet holstered a Blaster before charging into the bunker entrance, shooting any guards or mechanical machines that stood in his way.

* * *

48 could hear the commotion outside her door. There were a lot of footsteps and running around. She could just make out Bishop yelling, "Get rid of the documents. Pack the blueprints and get the extracted energy out of here!" She sat there and put her pendant over her neck which was just hidden by her jumpsuit collar. "This can't be good." She thought.

Bishop's wobbled steps coming towards the door. "You two, get out there and fight, or I'll serve you to a Snagglebeast!" Without hesitation the guards ran off, and the mechanical door lock disengaged. Bishop lugged inside and snatched 48's arm. "You're coming with me." 48 pulled against his grip.

"What's going on?" she yelled, as she was dragged out into the corridor.

"Nothing you would understand. Now shut your mouth and come with me."

48 grinned in realisation. "There's been a break-in hasn't there?"

"I told you to shut it!" He swung his free arm to slap her, but she bent out of the way and used his momentum to grab his tuxedo and throw him over her shoulder. As she turned to run, he slammed against the floor, grunted, then pulled out a stun pistol. "You filthy little Exo!" he yelled before pulling the trigger. It hit 48 directly in her wounded leg, sending shock waves pulsing though-out her body. She screamed in pain then collapsed to the floor, groaning.

"You will obey me! You will remember your place, Exo!" he shouted as he stumbled towards her. He started to drag her by her tail towards the Energy Department.

"We're evacuating the bunker aren't we Bishop?!"

He typed the code into the door panel. "So what if we are. Now you keep it shut or I swear you won't be able to breathe by the end of this trip." The door opened.

"If we're leaving, what about the whole 'strengthen-my-body-to-it's-maximum-endurance-leve l'? What about that?"

That earned her a strong tug on her tail. The pain burned and her eyes stung, but she bit her lip to stop yelping. She grabbed onto the doorframe as the tugging grew stronger.

"Don't be stupid. We'll still go through with that after it's safe to leave the safe house. But during that time we've got to keep ourselves busy now don't we?" He looked down at her with a dirty grin. "And I'm pretty sure that a girl like you can still make a guy like me have a bit of fun-even if you are an Exo." He smiled darkly.

48's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare." She hissed.

"Try me." Bishop finally dragged her inside, and the door closed behind them. 48 continued to scream, kick, and try to resist Bishop. After a lot of difficulty, he threw her into a corner and started to repeatedly kick her in the stomach and face. Blood started to ooze out and spread onto his shoes. 48 remained sprawled out on the floor, black dots dancing around her vision.

He kicked her one last time then ran off over to a set of machines and started to furiously type in messages to other networks. 48 struggled to keep conscious while several screens played over the same message, "Planet Orgia has been infiltrated by the Lombax. Send reinforcements immediately." Then she blacked out.

* * *

"Now Ratchet," Clank said from his back, "You need to take a right here and go straight on until you see a large door on the left. The source should be in there."

"Alright Clank. This had better be right!" Ratchet followed the directions and threw himself into a large doorway, gun loaded. He stared around the room to see that there was no one to be seen-just several machines and boxes of what seemed to contain glowing blue light. "You sure this is the right room Clank?"

Clank ran a scan of the bunker before replying. "Yes, this should be the right...Ratchet look out!" Ratchet spun round just in time to knock an incoming grenade out of harm's way with his wrench, sending it exploding into a computer. The attacker cursed.

"Ratchet, that is the man the infobot showed us!"

The Blargain scowled, pulling out a loaded pistol. "That's High Priest Bishop to you!" He fired several shots at Ratchet, all of which he jumped out of the way and dodged, before pulling out his wrench again, and then slamming it into Bishop's jaw. He cried out in pain, but was cut short of another blow by the wrench, this time to his large gut, sending him flying across the room and impacting with the large bubble in the centre cracking it slightly.

Bishop exhaled in shaky breaths. "So you're the one who's been messing with Drek. Must say, you're a good fighter."

Ratchet growled back, dragging his wrench on the floor as he stepped closer and closer to Bishop. "Where's the power source."

"You really think I would tell you?" he sneered back, "I am the most loyal Blargain here to Chairman Drek. You will have to try harder to get me to talk. _If_ I talk."

Ratchet released another low growl but was cut short by Clank, who was looking towards an unconscious figure lying behind several machines. He quickly scanned the body, and then turned back to his friend. "It seems that this girl is the source Ratchet."

Ratchet looked at Clank in confusion, before then grinning back at Bishop. "Guess you don't have to do any talking." He growled before knocking Bishop out with his wrench. "Clank, that's not a power source. It's just a kid."

"It seems so. But my radar scans detecting large amounts of energy frequencies coming off those boxes-which seem to contain the energy Drek mentioned."

"So?"

"The same frequency is coming off this girl, Ratchet. There is no doubt about it."

Ratchet looked at the small girl. She had pale grey fur with printed blue symbols, long blue hair, and had a worn, dirty-looking orange jumpsuit with bare feet. She seemed the same height as him and was probably around the same age too. Lying beside her was a long grey tail with the same symbols on her arms and legs, which ended in a large knife like point.

Ratchet rubbed the back of his neck. "Well what do we do with her?"

"We take her with us and drop her off at a safe location." Clank shrugged.

He glared evils at him. "You can't be serious?"

"Be reasonable Ratchet, she is only a bit younger than you. Besides, do you have a better idea? Or would you like to kill her here and now so to destroy the source?"

Ratchet let out a moan. He stamped over to the girl and hauled her over his shoulder. "Come on, before the backup arrives."

**Okay, so this isn't the best chapter I've ever written, but let's see how this goes. Well hopefully I'll get more chapters up before I have to go back to school, so watch this space!**


	5. Escape!

**Escape!**

A short while later, the three were still running around the inside of the bunker trying to find the ship hanger. Ratchet stopped and leaned against a wall in a huff. "You...said...we'd...be out of here...by now." He panted.

Clank paused. "Yes, well it seems that the bunker is more complex than I originally thought."

"Ugh...you...don't...say."

"If I do another scan on the complex, maybe I can figure out where we are." Clank started scanning the bunker complex, Ratchet started to check up on the girl on his shoulder. She didn't seem to have stirred at all which slightly worried Ratchet-even if he didn't show it.

"Ratchet, it seems that while there are no ships we can use, there is an escape pod on the other side of the bunker."

Ratchet took a few last breaths before running off. "Alright. See you there Clank!" He hollered.

"Ratchet." Clank called out. "It is the other way." Ratchet stopped, turned on his heel and sprinted off in the way Clank pointed at. "Right, I'll still see you there!" Clank shook his head before following. It was beyond him how he managed to keep his head screwed on.

* * *

Chairman Drek paced to and fro in his command ship. His eyebrows were twitching in anger, and his scowl deepening. He turned to address the scientist pictured on a large screen.

"So, allow me to get this right. You let an intruder inside the base, the Lombax no doubt, take out the High Priest, and lose my power source? And exactly how many kilowatts of the energy did you get out?"

"Well, it was around one hundred crates all together sir, since we had only just started-"

"Yes, yes, I know that. You had only just started the extraction process." He turned away from the screen, facing the dark space outside a window.

"Do you know exactly what I need to power Professor?" The scientist mumbled excuses. "Well, sir...you don't normally tell us anything other than our instructions sir, so..."

"What I need to power are the key parts of my plan. Creating a new planet doesn't happen in an instant. There are the extractors. The weapons. The large ships that transport bone-headed nincompoops to planets so to remove all life-based creatures from that planet and prepare it for extraction. That requires power, more than you will ever see in your life Professor. And you're telling me, that the source of all that _power_, of all that _energy_, has been _taken_?!" Drek trembled, and in fury took out a Blaster and shot a grunt standing nearby, sending the room into silence. He soon collected himself, and put the gun away in a pocket inside his suit lining.

"Find the source and bring her to me. And the Lombax. Alive. I want to be the one to blow his brains all over the wall."

"Yes Chairman. And what of the planet Orgia?"

Drek smiled darkly. "Dispose of it. I have no further use of it."

* * *

After another five minutes of running, Ratchet and Clank finally came to the escape pods. One left, Ratchet thought. Coincidence?

He motioned Clank towards the pod. "Come on Clank, we need to get out of here." He looked over to the pod release lever next to the door. The thick wires leading into the panel were cut, sending small sparks flying off. "Think you can power this back up?"

"It should not take a while." Ratchet held Clank up to the lever, where his robotic hand folded inside his arm, and came out as a small needle, which he thrust inside the panel and started to channel some of his power into it. The job was cut short by a loud wailing alarm.

"SELF DESTRUCT INICIANTED. BEGIN COUNTDOWN. ONE MINUTE REMAINING."

"Well that doesn't sound good." Mused Ratchet aloud. "Clank, gonna need you to speed that up now."

"I am nearly done. Just wait a little longer."

"We don't have any longer, Clank!"

"Please be patient Ratchet. This won't be a second longer."

"THRTY SECONDS REMAINING."

"C-lank!"

"Done!" Clank yelled, and took his arm out. Inside the pod there were two cream coloured couches on either side, bolted to the floor, and a large machine-presumably the control panel, at the centre front of the pod with a large window behind it.

They rushed inside, where Clank started to lock the door and Ratchet hurled the girl onto the couch while furiously pressing buttons to start the navigation system. "Come on, work you hunk of junk."

"TEN SECONDS REMAINING."

"Navigation system online. Choose destination."

Ratchet groaned. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Clank jumped forward onto the navigation system. "The nearest planet to here."

"Destination chosen. Launching pod." The pod rocketed out of the hanger, hurtling the two to the back of the pod, arms stretched out. As the pod flew into space the base's alarm echoed off.

"SELF DESTRCT INITIONATED." The planet exploded into oblivion, sending hunks of the planet's debris flying towards the pod, coming inches away from impact.

Clank looked back to where the planet once was. Now it was a space of emptiness with chunks of the former planet floating aimlessly around. "So, where to now?"

Ratchet looked back at the planet chunks, then back forward to the large window showing a distant planet in the distance. "We deal with the girl then get back to Quark. He'll be happy to hear about this."

**Alright this chapter is a bit shorter than what I usually write, but I couldn't think of anything else to put in. I promise that the next chapters are longer. Pinkie promise. **

**Well while I'm here, I'm gonna ask something that's been on my mind lately. Are you guys excited for 'Ratchet and Clank: Into The Nexus'? Just curious.**


	6. Misunderstanding

**Too Much Anger Doesn't Make A Good Housemate**

A short while later, the pod started to descend onto the distant planet. It was covered in greenery head to toe. Plants, trees, bushes you name it. As they stepped out, Clank started a scan on the planet layout while Ratchet jumped out of the pod and then covering the pod in large leaves and branches as camouflage.

Clank finished his scan. "It seems that there are no inhabitants on this planet, and that the planet consists of mostly rainforest terrain."

Ratchet rolled his eyes. "Way to state out the obvious."

Clank shook his head. "How is she?" He asked glancing back to the pod, which was responded by an angry glare by the organic life-form.

"Why you asking me? I didn't sign up for this hero stuff to be a babysitter! How do we know if she's not dangerous? She could be radioactive for all we know."

"She is not. I cannot detect any radioactivity around her. Only small electromagnetic waves."

He threw his hands in the air. "Great. Just great." He spat out before collapsing onto a nearby rock. Clank detected his anger and walked closer towards him. "It will only be for a short amount of time Ratchet. As soon as we locate someone to look after her we can leave to find Quark."

He sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll be patient. Just don't expect me to talk to it. It's just a power source after all. It's not like it has any feelings." He stopped and then turned apologetically towards Clank. "No offense."

"None taken." Ratchet stared up into the sky. The stars were clearly visible and a deep purple was starting to show. "It's getting dark. We should set up camp for the night, then try to get to Umbris tomorrow." He stood up to get some firewood, leaving Clank alone with the unconscious girl locked inside the escape pod.

* * *

Her eyes snapped open to unfamiliar surroundings. Her head was aching and her leg screaming in agony. The air was hot and damp, and small rays of light lit the darkness she lay in. "Where the heck am I?!" she thought with widened eyes. Could she be at the safe-house? If so, and Bishop kept his word about having fun... Ugh, she didn't want to think about that. Right now she needed to focus on getting out of here.

From what she could make out, there was a large window directly to the left of her. Below that there was a large control panel with small bulbs and a small touch screen-all of which were currently off. She was lying down on a curved black couch with an identical one opposite it. The room was completely circular too, which made it hard to move freely about.

48 tried to move her body. It ached but that was all, apart from the gashes on her leg and arm which still hadn't healed. She'd have to be careful with those. Gingerly, she levered herself up into a sitting position, then onto her feet while leaning on her right leg to avoid having to put pressure on her other wounded leg.

On her feet, she could try and find an exit. After looking around, she tried to look out of the window. She couldn't see much, but there was definitely some short of light-source set up, with what seemed to be two people sitting by it. She couldn't quite make out their faces though. 48 mentally sighed. She'd have to assume that they were the enemy. She put her hand in her face. "Right now, think. If they're outside, they must have used this vehicle or ship to get here, so there has to be an exit here somewhere." She looked towards the walls. They were dark, but they may have some sort of inscriptions or dents. If she could find any, she could try to make a hole.

48 went over to the left wall, arms stretched out trying to feel for any gaps. No such luck. She followed the wall to the back where she finally felt something. It was a small hand wheel. She'd seen some of these back in the test lab. If she was right, she just had to turn... It turned with ease, and after abruptly halting to a stop the door opened. She pushed it slightly agar and then slipped out.

Her bare feet sunk into the moist mud. She couldn't help but stare at the mysterious brown sludge surrounding her feet. It felt surprisingly good. She began to take in her surroundings. It seemed that she was in a small pod that was now covered in odd stick things with peculiar green ends. The two figures she saw inside were talking in what sounded like a heated argument or debate. Tall brown towers surrounded their location, with more of the odd stick things with the green ends. In fact, there was a lot of green stuff all around her. On the ground, hanging off the brown towers, and smaller brown towers lay on the floor. The ceiling above was a beautiful dark blue, with purple and blacks, with weird white blobs shining inside. Even though it was all strange and new to her, she loved it.

48 let out a childish giggle, delighted at the view. She immediately regretted it. The noises behind her stopped. She heard one of the figures stand up.

"What was that?" it spoke, before another grabbed an metal object with a loud CLUNK. 48's breath quickened. CLUNK normally meant heavy objects, and heavy objects meant weapons. Weapons meant hostility, and hostility mean violence! She bolted off and headed into the large cluster of brown towers.

"There! She's escaping!" The second figure shouted, before heading into a pursuit. 48 desperately jumped over the brown towers lying at her feet and sprinted in different directions at random towers. She could hear her pursuers several feet behind her. _Please no. Please don't catch me!_ She thought. A ripple ahead draw her attention. The ripple was midair in-between two towers. She smiled. Just what she needed!

She drew her hands together, ignoring the jabbing pain coursing through her left arm, and began muttering words. All the while, she gripped the air and started to pull, like ripping fabric. The ripple ahead was replaced by a small rip, which showed more of the dark ceiling that 48 saw before. She pulled harder until it was just at her waist height, and then jumped forward into it, disappearing as the rip engulfed her before closing behind her.

48 grinned as she shot out of the rip on a different part of the planet, but grimaced when she saw that there was no ground underneath her, and that she was about to plummet to her death!

* * *

Ratchet skidded to a halt when he saw that the girl had mysteriously disappeared, right before his eyes. He glanced around desperately in hope he would see her hiding behind a tree or rock.

"O-kay... What just happened?"

Clank tried to get a peak over the Lombax's shoulder. "I...do not know Ratchet. It seems that she disappeared." Ratchet turned over and glanced at his robotic companion with a look of..._You think I don't know that!_

A distant scream pierced the forest's deadly silence. "It came from that way, Ratchet!" The Lombax rolled his emerald eyes as he ran towards the sound. Clank was as useful as he was irritating.

As Ratchet pushed branches out of the way, he came right to the edge of a sharp cliff drop. He desperately flailed his arms to avoid falling off. Thankfully it paid off. He regained his balance and took a big step back. He looked around him. There was no one there. "Man, were is she?" he said aloud. "You can't just disappear into thin air." Clank observed the space between the forest and the cliff. There was absolutely no movement anywhere. Either whoever made that scream fell off, or they ran off.

A sharp glint caught his eye. In a large bush to the left, a small shimmer of light seeped through. Alarmingly, it seemed that there was a snarl coming from within the bush.

"Ratchet..." Clank said.

He spun around, just in time to see the girl lunge out of the bush, claws outstretched and teeth baring. He dodged and landed by a tree while the girl stopped just short of the edge and spun around on all fours. Her tail was swaying side to side with the knife-end glistening in the sunlight. They circled each other, Ratchet clutching his wrench in a battle stance and the girl with her head lowered ready to pounce. The girl yelled a war cry then leaped towards Ratchet. He held the wrench up, holding her back from clawing his head off. She snarled, and tried to scratch him with her long blue claws to no avail. With a strong shove, Ratchet pushed her off his wrench and striked her with it in the jaw. She fell to the ground, grunting in pain, before mimicking Ratchet's battle stance.

"You're good." She hissed, "But you will never get me back in there."

Ratchet narrowed his eyes. "Too bad. You're going back in that pod whether you like it or not."

This made her hiss even louder, then swing around with her tail's knife-end slicing towards Ratchet. He yelped back with the knife coming inches from his face, slicing several hairs off his chin. He stumbled back in shock. When he realised what just happened, he shot a death glare at her. She just smirked darkly.

He ran towards her, swinging his wrench in a blind rage, of which she all dodged. He then thrusted the wrench end into her direction. Suddenly, she dodged the attack, and then grabbed the wrench, yanked it from Ratchet's hand, and pushed him on the back towards the edge. He dug his toes into the dirt to gain his balance. After he did, he turned around to face the girl again. Except she was there to meet him, with his wrench in hand.

"Nice wrench you got here. Good sturdy one too." She looked at him with empty eyes. "Too bad it's what led to your downfall." And with that she swung it at him. It spun in midair like a boomerang, and hit Ratchet directly in the chest, sending him falling off the cliff to an immediate death.

**Yeah, Ratchet is pretty mean in the first half isn't he? But don't worry he won't be like that for the whole fan-fic.**

**Just to say again, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favourited or followed this story! It makes me so happy****. **


	7. Realisation

**Realisation**

Ratchet screamed as he plunged further down, flailing his arms around. The wind cut against his face, his fur waving around wildly. Behind him, a robotic voice was also screaming. Clank was desperately trying to remember how to activate his Heli-Pack. "Now what did Al say?" he thought, calmly. "Check the wind speed. 146 knots. Make sure that you've reached the terminal velocity. Check..." Just in-front of him, Ratchet could see his wrench spiralling towards the ground. He dived towards it, outstretching his arm to try and grab it. He couldn't let it get destroyed. It his most precious possession.

Suddenly, both of them abruptly stopped, allowing Ratchet to grab his wrench. They slowly started to fly upwards. Ratchet looked onto his back to see that Clank had finally activated the Heli-Pack, and was now safely lifting them back onto the cliff edge. He let out a sigh of relief. That wouldn't have been a nice scene if they didn't get that upgrade. A thought flashed though his mind of their broken bodies splattered all over the forest floor. That certainly didn't seem appealing. As they were moving back up, an idea suddenly hit Ratchet. He pulled out a large PX6 Devastator.

"Clank, could ya do something for me?" he called out. Clank looked over his robotic torso. "When we get back up, don't land on the cliff. I need you to hover just above it for a moment." He looked at Ratchet in confusion. "What are you planning?" Ratchet finished loading the PX6 Devastator. "Please, just do it."

They began to arrive back at the top of the cliff. Ratchet could still see the girl looking in the opposite direction towards the forest. She seemed perplexed by the planet's terrain. She suddenly spun around in alarm, hearing the gears of Clank's Heli-Pack. Ratchet, with Devastator in hand, lifted it and pulled the trigger. Her eyes widened in realisation, as she jumped away from the missile. It blew up right behind her, sending her flying off the edge of the cliff face. The impact slightly threw Clank struggling to continue flying, but he managed to regain his balance. He slowly landed on the levelled terrain, where the surrounding trees were now either charred, burning, or had been blown into oblivion. Clank jumped off Ratchet's back and ran over to where the girl was last seen. Reluctantly, Ratchet followed.

They both glanced over, managing to see the girl digging a clawed hand into the cliff face and hanging on for dear life. Clank moved towards the edge and tried reaching out his tiny arm without falling off.

"Here, reach up." He said. She glared at him. For a moment, he retracted his arm and just stared. She was looking at him with undisguised hatred, without a hint of fear. This act of defiance really got the golden-striped Lombax next to him going. They had risked their lives trying to get her out of that bunker in one piece, and had the decency to keep her alive to this point. And this was how she repaid them.

"I told you'd never get me back in there." She snarled. Clank made the observation that she was slowly releasing her grip on the rock face. His circuits raced. She really meant it. She was ready to kill herself.

"But you don't really want to, do you?" a voice behind him yelled. Coming closer towards the cliff edge was Ratchet, who had panic written all over his face. Quite a change from the stubborn, slightly selfish look that Clank normally saw.

She stopped and looked at him in confusion. Ratchet spoke again. "You're prepared to kill yourself, but you don't really want to. There's just some part of you that wishes that tells you that there's another way. That it doesn't have to end like this. Isn't there?" For a split second, Ratchet thought he could see something in her eye. Something he hadn't seen for a long time. Pure sadness. However, it quickly disappeared.

"What's it to you anyway? Bishop set you up to this, didn't he?!" she shouted, "I swear that I will never go back to that monster, dead or alive!" Ratchet made a grave realisation. She thought they were the bad guys. That must have been why she fought. How was she supposed to know anyway? It would have been pitch black in that pod. Waking up in that, in unknown territory would make anyone panic.

"I swear I'm not with Bishop. Heck, I didn't even know who he was until yesterday!" She remained unconvinced. He sighed. "And if it helps, he won't be a problem anymore. None of them will." She looked down in thought, before her eyes snapped back towards him in shock.

"You're lying."

Ratchet knelt down and outstretched his right arm, with a faint smile on his face. "But you don't really believe that. You know what I mean." She breathed out in amazement with a slither of a smile on her soot covered face.

Without warning, she started hissing in pain. She broke off eye-contact in embarrassment. "I-I can't." She said in a small voice.

Ratchet held back his rising temper bubbling inside him. "Why not?" he snapped.

She hissed again. "M-my arm's injured. I-I don't think I can move it." She said in an even smaller voice. Ratchet looked down at her free arm. It was dangling helplessly, and small trickles of blood were dripping down it. He felt surprisingly guilty, even though he was fighting her only a couple of minutes ago. He wasn't trying to aim at her, just the space behind to try and scare her. Obviously, that hadn't worked as well as he had hoped.

"Here." Ratchet grabbed her hand clutching the cliff rock, "I've got you." It wasn't an easy job, as Ratchet soon realised, since she was only using one leg to help move herself off the cliff and while Clank was heaving on her uninjured arm as much as he could, he didn't have enough strength to even lift it into the air. He came to the awful conclusion that he was doing most of the lifting. If she fell it would be his fault.

Against the odds though, they hoisted her onto her stomach, then brought her legs onto solid ground. Ratchet sat down, panting heavily while looking down to his feet. Ratchet being Ratchet, he couldn't help but grin.

"You know, you're really light." He thought back to the bunker, "Unlike that Bishop guy. He wouldn't have lasted ten seconds on that cliff." Clank, who was lying next to him, gave him a patronising look and shook his head. Ratchet laughed. "What?! Seriously, he must have weighed a tonne! Did you see that dude?!"

He paused and looked over to the girl. She was lying down on the ground with her arms laid out like a starfish. Her tattered blue jumpsuit was starting to fall into pieces, with the material completely ripped off her arms and left leg. Her leg had a matching piece of cloth wrapped around it, with fresh blood soaking it. Her grey fur was covered in ash, soot and dirt, and her purple eyes tired and totally defeated. She glanced over at Ratchet, and looked him straight in the eye.

"Why? Why did you do that?" The question took Ratchet by surprise. "Well...why not?" She looked back up to the sky. There was a bit of an awkward silence between them before she spoke again. "What are they?" she asked with curiosity. Ratchet followed her gaze. She was looking at the millions of stars in the sky. Since there was no light pollution the stars were in perfect view. It was beautiful really. "Those are stars." She smiled and echoed the word 'stars'. "They're better than I thought they would be."

Before Ratchet could speak, Clank took the words out of his mouth. "What do you mean by that miss? It seems that you have never been outside before." She frowned before answering. "I have. But that was a long time ago." She moved to get onto her feet, but winced in pain. Clank immediately stopped her and then lay her back down.

"Miss, it seems that you have sustained several injuries from our recent fight." He said, eyeballing the organic life-from behind him. "I suggest that you stay here while Ratchet goes and gets some nanotech from our campsite." Ratchet stood up in a huff.

"Fine, I'm already leaving rust-bucket." The gears inside Clank clenched together.

"I am _not_ a rust-bucket, Ratchet." He muttered, obviously irritated. Ratchet waved his hand before entering the jungle. "Sure, anything you say...rust-bucket." he said teasingly.

**Whoo! 6th chapter is up! Well, I'm off to get some cake. :-)**


	8. A Deal

**A Deal**

A short while after Ratchet left, Clank ran through his memory banks and files to check for any internal damage. If that Devastator didn't corrupt at least one file he'd be surprised. When Clank was finally satisfied that every file had been checked and replaced, he shut his power down and went into power saver mode. However, he was soon brought out of his sleep by noises besides him.

Gingerly letting the power back into his eye-sight, Clank managed to see the girl facing away from him, lying on her shoulder. Noises were coming from what seemed to be a small object in her palm. They were a man and a woman's voice playing back over and over, with each voice saying different sentences each time with a quiet beep after a sentence finished.

"What is that you are holding?" he asked. Immediately, she fumbled with the object and put it back around her neck. "Nothing."

Clank thought for a while. He had certainly seen something, but she was denying that it was even there despite him recalling the noises. "It didn't seem like nothing."

"Well it was probably just your imagination." She huffed in a gruff voice. With a sigh he dropped the subject.

Several large rustles came from a nearby tree. Next to it was an exhausted Lombax, with several crates of the promised nanotech. 48 looked at it in awe. "What...is that?"

Ratchet put the crates down beside her. "Nanotech. Saved my skin more than a few times." He chuckled.

She continued to stare at it. "Is it safe?"

"Sure it is." 48 looked at him with a frown. "Here," Ratchet said, grabbing a crate, "I'll show you." He broke the glass crate and let the dripping nanotech fall onto his slightly bruised and cut arm. The blue substance was absorbed into his skin, and when the last drop disappeared, the cuts slowly started to close up. 48 looked in awe as all the bruises quickly vanished leaving only several wet patches of fur. Ratchet smiled at her reaction. Clank though shook his head.

"Ratchet! Remember we don't have nanotech in abundance." But he simply waved it off. "Don't be such a worry wart, there's like seven more crates inside that pod." He turned his attention back to her.

"You turn now." He said, before grabbing the collar of her jumpsuit. She flinched back in surprise.

"I need to take it off so I know if you have any other injuries." He explained. Obeying, she moved back towards him, blushing slightly. Ratchet pulled the jumpsuit zip down to her waist, got a small pocket-knife out and carefully cut and pulled off the jumpsuit armholes-or what was left of them. As he guessed, there were several patches of crimson on a dirty tank top underneath, some dried and fresh. After that, he cut though the sides of both leg holes, so the remaining jumpsuit material was cut off from her body and lay underneath her, revealing a pair of black shorts underneath. However, several strips of the same fabric stayed glued onto parts of her arm and leg. They probably meant that they were make-shift bandages for flesh wounds.

"I can take those off after the nanotech." He thought. Clank passed over a crate of nanotech over, where Ratchet crushed it with his hands. It oozed out onto her chest before vanishing. It did nothing. 48 looked at Ratchet in confusion. "I thought it saved you skin several times." She said. He shook his head. "I don't understand. It's never done that before." Clank passed over a second crate.

"You should not worry. It probably means that it has healed your body inside. The effects are not always visible." He responded, while breaking the crate and starting the process again. This time, after all the nanotech was absorbed, a large CRUNCH came from her arm. 48 threw her head back in pain, small hisses coming from her lips. "I think it worked." She muttered sarcastically. Clank turned to Ratchet, who was wincing at the thought of 48's pain. "Do you think she needs more?"

He looked back to her wounds. Her broken bone had been healed perfectly, but she still had several deep gashes and cuts. They should probably take care of those when they still had time.

"Go on." He whispered. Clank obliged, and emptied the last crate's contents onto 48. Shortly afterwards, several crackles came from her leg and the remaining flesh wounds closed up. Ratchet removed the fabric from her then injured limbs, to find that they flesh had cleaned up considerably, and that the cloth came off without hesitation.

48 lay still for a moment, before sitting up. "So...what did you mean when you said that Bishop wouldn't be a problem again?"

"I knocked him out in the bunker. Just after we left on the escape pod, the bunker self-destructed. The blast was so big it destroyed the planet. I don't think that he would have gotten off in that time."

She smiled. "Good. He had it coming."

Clank stood up. "It would be best if we moved back to the campsite. We will be able to warm up by the fire." They agreed on that, and made their way back before grabbing the wrecked jumpsuit remains. All the while, 48 wondered what he meant by 'fire'. "Question," she said, after they were about halfway to the camp. "What is 'fire'?" The two companions swung back in shock. She seemed confused. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Man...how long were you holed up in that bunker for?" Ratchet breathed. She shrugged her shoulders. "I told you, for a long time. I think I was about...three since I was last outside. Or at least that's what it said on my medical review."

"Damn. That really is a long time." Ratchet looked her up and down. Clank was right when he said that she was about his age. That would have made it at least twelve years. Even though he was stuck on Veldin since he could remember, at least he wasn't confined to the indoors. He could run, jump, laugh. She looked like today was the first time she had ever smiled.

"Well miss," Clank said before walking off again, "It seems that you will have to wait and see."

* * *

She did see what the fire was when they got back to the camp. And she loved it. The campfire was out when they got here, so Ratchet had the pleasure of relighting it with some flint and hearing her jump backwards on all fours when the sparks landed on some twigs and left over fabric they had left. He blew on it for a bit before adding more twigs and firewood. Soon enough, the fire was a decent size, and they all sat down. 48 eyes remained fixed on the flames dancing before her. "They're beautiful." She said, and moved her hand over to grab them. Ratchet instantly pulled her back. "NO. You...don't do that. It hurts if you do that." She shrugged her shoulders then sat back down while continuing to watch the fire.

"So miss." Clank spoke, "What is your name?" She looked at him for a moment, before glancing back to the fire. "They called me 48 back at the bunker. But that's not my real name. I think it was based on a number system."

"And what did it symbolise?"

"That before me, forty seven others were tested on." She looked down sadly, "They didn't make it."

"I'm...sorry."

"Don't be." Clank looked over at Ratchet for help. He gestured his hands for him to continue. Obviously, he found it as awkward as Clank was.

"Well what is your real name?" She screwed her face up for a moment before answering. "I think it was Jinx." Clank nodded. Finally! They were getting somewhere!

"Well Jinx, we were thinking about your current situation and where you should go while you were unconscious." Her ears perked up. Clank continued. "Do you have anywhere to go to? Anywhere you think is safe?"

Jinx shook her head. "Well, I've been locked inside that bunker for several years, so everywhere that I knew has probably been destroyed by now." He looked at her with interest. "Why do you say that?" She sighed. "It's a long story."

Ratchet fiddled with his fingers. "Well, do you have anyone you do know? Relatives, parents, not anyone." She winced at his words. "Can't I just go with you?"

Ratchet exhaled. "Look, you seem nice but we can't. It's just not safe with us right now." Clank chirped in. "We're trying to enlist the help of Captain Quark to help us save the galaxy!" She stared at him. "Sorry, Captain Who?" He smiled proudly. "Captain Quark. He is the galaxy's greatest hero. We were going to see him actually." She smiled at that. "So who did you say you were saving the galaxy from?"

Ratchet yawned. "Some guy called Chairman Drek." Jinx's eyes widened. She spun to face Ratchet. "What did you say?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Chairman Drek. Why?"

She straightened up. "It is very important that I go with you to fight Drek."

Ratchet's alarm inside his head went off. There was no way that she could come with them! She would just complicate things! And they were already late to getting to Umbris. "Woh, hold up there. You can't come with us."

"What?! Why not?" she shouted.

"You just can't. It would just complicate things."

"Like this isn't complicated already! Please, I need to come with you."

"And why is that?" she shook her head. "Bishop said that the energy that I was supplying would help a Chairman Drek with some sort of plan."

"Then that's exactly why you can't come with us?" Ratchet yelled. His patience was really starting to thin out. "What happens if he catches you? Out of the question!"

"Drek owes me answers. Bishop never got round to them. Now he never will. It's important that I find out these answers."

"So what! Life's full of mysteries! Just ask you parents or something, they'll probably know." Jinx's ears flattened. She paused for a while before sighing.

"I can't. My parents are dead. I'm trying to find the guy who ordered for their deaths." Ratchet winced. This he hadn't expected. He put his head in his hands and groaned. But she still continued.

"Please, no one else will know. I need to find Drek." He looked back at her. He could finally see her for who she really was. She was just a frightened orphan who wanted answers. What he wouldn't do for answers of his own.

He threw his hands in the air. "Fine." He exclaimed. "You can come with us. But only to find Drek. Then you're on your own." She smiled. But his mind was still racing. Man this had better be a good idea.

He turned over. "Come on, we need to leave early. Get some sleep." Ratchet could hear her lye down and roll onto her side. Clank sat down and shut his power off for a well earned rest. Just before Ratchet closed his eyes, he heard her whisper something.

"Thank you."

**Alright! Number 7 is up! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and hopefully more will be up soon. :-)**


	9. Crashing

**Crashing**

Drek looked out of his control ship. It had been almost over two days since they had news of where the source and Lombax were. They had to be found, or his plan will fail.

He clenched his teeth together. Failure was _not_ an option. He already had all his elites positioned on many of the dominating planets in the galaxy, and they were extracting planet parts at top speed. So why was the plan already starting to fall apart? And so soon!

A small voice receiver beeped next to him. He held a large black button down. "Yes, what is it?" he said in an irritated voice.

"We've just had a sighting of the Lombax sir. He's heading to Umbris." He smiled. Finally, the break he needed.

"Shall we open fire, sir?" the elite on the other side asked. "No, leave them." He purred. "Let them think that they have won. I have a surprise for them on that miserable rock."

"Yes sir." As soon as the elite hung up, he dialled a number into a small control panel in front of the large TV screen. A bulky silhouetted figure came up. "The Lombax is heading your way. Make sure that he doesn't make it off that planet alive."

"Sure thing sir!" the figure chimed, "He won't even know what hit him." Drek rolled his eyes at the figure's eagerness. "He better not." He growled back, "And make sure you keep the girl alive. I'll need her for the plan to work." Then he flicked the screen off.

Ugh, of all the numskulls in the Solana Galaxy, why did he have the worst as a partner? All well, at least that meddling Lombax and pint-sized robot wouldn't be under his skin for much longer.

* * *

Their small pod was rocketing towards the murky red planet of Umbris. Ratchet was lying down on one of the couches, sound asleep. Clank was standing on the pod's navigation system while looking outside the pod's window in excitement. Jinx was lounging on the opposite couch to Ratchet. She though back to the rainforest planet that they were last on. It was beyond her how Clank had managed to start the escape pod up again. Said something about a 'robotic ignition system', or something along those lines. She just hoped that there would be that sky again on the next planet. And maybe some of those 'trees' that Ratchet had told her about. At least being on this journey to find Drek was helping her gain more insight into the outside world.

"Clank? Why exactly do we need to see Quark again?" she asked politely. Clank hopped down from the bulky machine and pulled himself onto the couch next to her. "Quark is a famous superhero. He has defeated many great warriors and enemies to the galaxy. If there is anyone who can defeat Drek it's him." He replied. His green eyes were twinkling in delight as he said this. He obviously looked up to Quark as an idol. But Jinx remained unconvinced.

"So, if he's done all these things, why does Ratchet need to prove himself so much to him? If he's such a great hero, surely he would have already jumped at your offer to save the galaxy by now." Clank merely shook his head and tutted her. "Jinx, Quark is right to be cautious. He doesn't know us well enough yet. We could be with Drek for all he knows. If he had 'jumped' at the chance to save the galaxy with strangers who could be double spies, then the galaxy would be in turmoil." She nodded reluctantly. Clank did have a point there. "Point taken." She muttered, "So, what's the plan?"

"When we arrive at Umbris, we should meet Quark directly on. There, we shall hand you over to him while we complete the course. He will be able to keep you safe if any Blargains come. But with all that security Quark has it should be no problem."

She raised an eyebrow. "You know I can handle myself, right." She pouted.

"Yes, I do know. I only suggested it because you are still lacking in appropriate clothing." He pointed out, hinting at her tattered tank top and shorts. "And I do recall that in our last battle most of your clothing disintegrated. Do you _really_ want that to happen to your undergarments as well, _while_ we are in a death course with _the_ most famous superhero in the galaxy watching?" She looked down at her top and shorts.

It would be lying so say that she had enjoyed walking around in only shorts and a tank top, and it was true that the now crimson and grey fabric covering her torso was already starting to fall to pieces. It would only be a matter of time before she would be butt naked, and that would _not_ be a pleasant experience.

She put her hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright, I get the picture." Clank turned back to the window. They were starting to enter the planet's atmosphere. At the speed they were going at they should try to slow the pod down. The robot looked towards the snoring Lombax.

"Ratchet?" he said, "Ratchet, wake up!" The Lombax woke in a startle and fell onto the floor. "I'm up!" he shouted "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing of importance. But we are approaching Umbris' atmosphere." Clank looked out of the window again. "Does this pod have anything to slow it down?"

Ratchet was now fully awake. "Uh...I didn't see anything..."

"Well, what about fuel? We'll need that to land safely." Ratchet went over to the control panel. There was a small circular dial with a red area on the left, and a green area on the right to show if the tank was full or empty. A tiny arrow was pointing to the red area.

"Looks like...we're almost out."

"Landing gear, at least?"

He rolled his eyes at him. "Does it look like this pod has landing gear?!" Jinx watched the growing tension between them. "We're gonna crash, aren't we?" she murmured.

"Well, it certainly looks that way." Ratchet shot back. He moved back onto the couch, and grabbed the armrest. "Look, just try to hold onto something. The last thing we need is someone flying out of the window." Jinx obliged, and went to grab the opposite armrest. Clank clung onto Ratchet's leg as the pod started to come into contact with the ground.

They came down hard. The impact threw Jinx up into the air then crashing back down onto the armrest, trying to catch her breath. But the pod didn't stop. The next crash sent the pod flipping in the air. Ratchet was holding onto the armrest for dear life. Clank had long been ripped from the Lombax's trouser leg, and was being thrown around the interior like a rag doll. Jink, who had also been thrown around, now landed onto the ceiling. Before she could be ripped from the solid surface, she drew out a set of claws and dug them into the metal. It felt like her arms were being pulled from their sockets-which they were-but at least she was holding onto something.

Now Ratchet had been pulled from the couch, and joined Clank thumping onto all sides of the pod screaming like a maniac. The pod finally came back down to the planet surface, but still continued roll nethertheless.

After a lot of beatings, one of the couches ripped off the metal flooring, the force sending it crashing into the glass window. Glass landed everywhere, leaving a large hole where the couch exited. Not long after, the other couch became unhinged and soon started to fly dangerously close to all three of them. Except this one wasn't heading for the window. Instead it was shooting towards Ratchet.

Clank cried out. "Ratchet, to your left!"

"Which left!?"

"Your left!"

His eyes met the couch's destructive path towards him. Jinx stared helplessly. Or so it looked like it. Her mind was screaming at her.

_You know you can do it. Using it once won't harm anyone._

She ignored it, just as Ratchet managed to dodge the object. It crashed into the wall leaving a large dent, but still came back for more. It would only be a matter of time before it crushed one of them to death.

_Send it away. Why do you resist?_

"You know well why I don't!" she mentally shouted back.

_Is your pride really worth his life? _

She cursed. "Fine," she thought, "just this once."

She glared at the couch beneath her. It slowed down-but not enough to be obviously visible. She moved her gaze to a wall to the right of Ratchet. The couch followed her line of sight and shot out of the metal side, this time leaving a massive gaping hole. The hole let in all the gushing wind from outside, blowing Clank to the control panel and Ratchet to the dented wall. They all took a large sigh of relief, and looked towards each other.

"You guys sure know how to make a girl to have fun!" Jinx yelled over the roaring wind. Ratchet let out a short laugh.

"You should see what we get up to on Saturday nights!" he yelled back.

Clank looked at him in confusion. "Exactly what do we get up to on Saturday nights?" That sent him off. He starting laughing manically. Jinx admired his courage. Even when they were in a battered hunk of scrap metal that was sending them to their deaths he could still laugh like this was normal to him.

Suddenly, the ground that the bashed up pod was rolling against suddenly disappeared into thin air, sending them over a large ski-jump-like cliff edge. The pod rolled further and further down the cliff, until it reached the end. It flew off the curved end, and they continued to flip in the air.

Ratchet's smile suddenly disappeared as he looked out of the shattered window. Clank and Jinx followed his gaze hesitantly, to see that something was coming towards them in a slow, angelic fashion. Small puffs of smoke were coming from its back leaving a trail of its path. Jinx looked at it in delight. "It's beautiful." She breathed. Clank looked at her as if she had her screws unloose. "That may certainly seem beautiful to you, but to us that is an auto-targeting missile which is coming our way."

"Is that bad?"

Ratchet finished Clank's sentence. "_Very_ bad." He looked towards the two holes left by the couches. "When I give the word, jump out of that hole!" he said, pointing to the hole in the metal wall.

"What! Are you crazy?!"

"You want to get blown to pieces?" The missile was getting closer. She nodded to Ratchet. He held up a hand, while looking back to the missile. When it was exactly ten metres away, he screamed out. "NOW!" Jinx released the ceiling and scrambled for the hole. As she got closer, the wind sucked her out before she could realise it. She was now falling, and very fast at that, down to the ground. But she kept her eye on the pod. Out of nowhere, she saw an orange figure jump out, just as the missile hit. It blew them far out. Ratchet was falling head first, and he wasn't moving whatsoever. Jinx screamed at Ratchet, hoping that he would answer. He didn't. Instead her conscious answered for him.

_Look what you've done now. You could have saved him. But you didn't. And now he's dead._ And for once, she agreed with it as she hit the ground.

* * *

_She was standing outside. They told her to finish packing. She had to make one last trip to the hideout. There was no way she was leaving without that scrapbook. She must have been about halfway back to the house before she heard the screaming. It silenced the whole forest. It was a woman's voice. She knew who it was. A shot echoed though the woods._

_She raced back to the house. There were ships parked in the front. Everyone seemed to be inside. She couldn't see what was going inside though. _

_Maybe it would be alright, she told herself. They couldn't have got here so soon. Mom said it was impossible. Suddenly, she was inside, looking down at two familiar bodies on the floor. She started to scream helplessly._

"_DAADDYYYY!"_

**Phew. I'm glad that's over. This wasn't an easy thing to write. Especially since it's nearly the end of the holiday. ARRGH! WHY DO I ALWAYS GET WRITERS BLOCK DURING THE SCHOOL PERIOD!**

**Anyway...thanks for continuing to read this. **


	10. Lost and Found

**Lost and Found**

The power came back on. His eyes glowed green, as his vision was restored. He was staring up into red, murky sky of Umbris. From what his databases said, this was definitely the place. Muddy, hot and dry.

The power soon went back to the rest of his body. It didn't seem like anything was broken, but it would be smart to do a routine check. He sat up and examined his surroundings. He could just see Quark's base on the horizon. It would take several hours to get there on foot, now they didn't have any other mode of transport. Around him were several dead trees and large rocks sitting on the murky desert floor.

A small jolt of electric energy passed through his body. Something wasn't right. Why did he feel so...tired? He had no reason to be. And wait a minute. Clank looked around the vast open plain. Where was Ratchet?

"Ratchet?" he called out, trying to get to his feet. There was no response but the piercing echo of the wind.

"Ratchet?!" He tried to get up again. The gears in his legs wouldn't work. It was like they had shut down. He was left sitting down in the middle of nowhere, miles from help, and if he was as unlucky as he has always been then there'd probably be some kind of creature that wanted to eat him nearby.

He stopped. There were noises coming from behind a large rock. Clank took up the best fighting stance he could-if there was any good fighting stance when you can't stand up. "Clank?" A long grey tail peeped out of the rock's side with a familiar knife end.

"Jinx!" Clank exhaled, "I thought you were an enemy!"

"Sorry." Jinx moved out from her hiding place. Thankfully, she didn't seem to badly injured-just a little bit shaken. She glanced over to the headquarters in the distance. "That were we need to go?" Clank nodded. "This Quark seems a bit flashy, if you ask me." She chuckled.

"Yes...well the captain is a superhero! What do you expect?"

She looked down at the ground, her ears drooping. She mumbled something. Clank looked up at her expectantly.

"Yes?" She snapped out of it. "Oh, nothing." She stared back at the horizon.

"So where do you think Ratchet is?"

"I do not know." Clank clutched his head. "I remember freefalling in the sky, and using my Heli-Pack to bring us both down. Something must have hit me on the head on our way down."

She bent down to Clank. "Wanna help me find him?"

"I would love to-once I get the gears in my leg running again." She looked at him in concern. "Why, what happened to your leg?" Clank merely shook his head.

"I do not know. When I regained consciousness, I felt slightly tired and couldn't move them. The gears do not seem to be functioning properly." Jinx walked over to the back of him. There was a small panel on the back of Clank's head. No doubt that'd hold the main processor.

_You know you want to._ Jinx battered at the voice in her head. "Ugh, don't you ever shut up?"

_Just a little peak...he won't see a thing..._

"Hey, you already got that chance in the pod. There's no way I'm doing another stunt like that."

_Go on...it won't kill him..._

"Yeah, actually it might. And you know that."

Clank turned his head towards her. "Who are you talking to?"

Jinx's fur stood up on end. Did she just say that aloud? "Uh...staying in that bunker did some things to me." She mumbled in embarrassment. Clank seemed to have bought it and nodded slightly before turning back to front.

She exhaled deeply. "You see what you did! You almost gave me away!" she mentally screamed. Jinx took a quick peek at the panel on Clank's head again. "Though it wouldn't hurt to do a little tinkering..." She snapped her fingers together, creating a small jolt of white light before placing her hand over the panel. Clank began to turn back again.

"NO!" Jinx yelled. He looked at her in the corner of his eye. "I'm just looking at your circuits. I think I can fix your legs."

"You are a mechanic?" The panel fell onto the ground, revealing a small circuit board.

"Something like that." She focused her energy on her palm and put the tips of her fingers onto the circuit board. Suddenly, her pupils constricted and her eyes turned a dark reddish colour. More of the while light exited her hand and into the circuit board. Clank pulled away as he heard the gears in his legs begin to click. Jinx drew back her hand and clenched it together. The light smothered in her palm and her eye colour regained its purple glow.

Clank wiggled his feet around before leaping off the ground. "What exactly did you do?" he said while looking down at his newly functioning legs.

Jinx snapped the panel back into place."Uh...just rewired some stuff. Nothing too much."

Clank didn't reply back but mumbled something in response. He took another glance at their surroundings. "Where do you think Ratchet is?" Jinx asked.

"Hopefully he is still alive. Which seems highly likely, considering he is very hard to kill." Clank started to walk off. Jinx quickly followed behind. "He should be nearby. If I do a bio-scan on our surroundings I may be able to identify his heat signature."

"Go figure." Jinx reached around her neck, hoping to find some comfort in her hidden pendant. She frowned and began to pat around her neck. The pendant was gone. "No. No, no NO!" Her eyes widened in shock. She couldn't have lost it in the crash could she? She was sure it was on her when she fell. That would mean it fell to the surface somewhere. Which probably meant it had been crushed to pieces by the impact force. "Ugh, you can't be serious." She muttered. Thankfully Clank was too focused on his bio-scan to notice her groaning. "How on earth could you have lost that? You stupid idiot!" she thought. "You keep it hidden for twelve years from that low life Bishop but you can't stop it from coming off your stupid neck when you free fall?!"

Clank stopped walking. He was staring at a short figure walking towards them. "Ratchet?" he called out. Jinx stopped too and stared at the figure. His golden ears gleamed in the red sunlight.

"Clank! Jinx!" he shouted back, then broke into a run. Clank was off in a dash towards him. Jinx watched both of them meet up and exchange relieved greetings.

"Man, I thought that you guys were dead!" Ratchet puffed out. "Don't you ever give me a shock like that again!"

Clank smiled. "What happened when we left the pod Ratchet?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess when you turned on the Heli-Pack the force was too much for you. All I remember was you being blown off my back by the wind and me crashing into some dead tree."

Ratchet stood up to Jinx. "Oh, and uh..." he pulled out a small turquoise pendant, "I think this belongs to you." Jinx stared at it in disbelief. She snatched it out of his hand. "How did you...I mean...what?"

"Oh, and here I was expecting you to be all like, 'Oh my gosh, thanks so much'!" Jinx laughed at Ratchet's girly impression of her. "Do I really sound like that?"

"Well, maybe. Just a tad bit." Ratchet laughed back. Clank watched the awkward silence between them. "Well...thanks. Really." She eventually replied back.

Ratchet looked at the distance between them and Quark's headquarters. "Well, how far do you think that is?"

"I'd give an estimate of ten miles. If we hurry, we can make it before it gets dark."

"I'm all for that." Jinx said. Ratchet began to stride towards the base with his arms pumped in the air. "WHOO! Alright! Let's do this, yeah!" Jinx and Clank exchanged glances.

"Is he always like this?" she mouthed.

"It is probably the adrenaline rushing thought his brain. He'll get grumpy after about twenty minutes." He mouthed back. Jinx giggled at his reply as they followed the keen Lombax towards their next destination.

* * *

You know, thinking back on that moment that was probably the first time I ever saw Clank smile. It was surprisingly normal...for a robot. Yep, that was a good ten mile walk. Ratchet didn't stop complaining for the next couple of hours. First I think the reality of being ejected out of an escape pod hit him. Man, I thought I'd have to carry him there.

Come to think of it, that was the last good moment we had together for a _long_ time.

**Another chapter up! Unfortunately you guys may notice that I won't be updating for long periods of time for the next couple of months, since I'm really going to be drowning in school work and exams in two weeks time. _Not_ looking forward to that...**

**I'll try to get another chapter up before September, but I can't make any promises :-(**


	11. Deception

**Deception**

I remember after about three hours we managed to get to the outskirts of Quark's base. The first thing we could see where the tall barbed wire fences stopping us from getting inside. On the opposite side of the fence there was a small landing pad for ships. Where we _should_ have landed. Not in the middle of nowhere. If I'm right, Ratchet was trying to find a way inside...

"Ratchet, _please_ be reasonable."

"Clank's right. Your plan is really flawed."

Ratchet stuck his chin out with his hands on his hips. "Come on, of course it'll work." He reached out to grab Clank but he bolted behind Jinx. Ratchet kept his arms out in front of him and glared at the robotic companion.

"Come on Jinx, hand him over and no one gets hurt." Clank pouted behind her. "You are _not_ forcing me under that fence Ratchet. It'll scratch my sensors!"

She grinned back at Ratchet. "Sorry. I'm with him on this one."

"Even if it's for the sake of the galaxy?"

"You really think that's gonna work on me?" Ratchet lowered his arms in defeat. "No." He mumbled. Suddenly he lunged towards Clank. "But this might!" Clank was running around Jinx to desperately try and get away from the Lombax behind him. Jinx was trapped in the middle of them but watched is hysterical delight.

"Come on Ratchet, give it up already!" she shouted between laughs. "Even if you were to get Clank underneath that fence, how are we supposed to get through?"

Ratchet stopped running and fell to the floor gasping for breath. "Easy, we climb over."

"It's an electric fence." Jinx pointed out to a yellow danger sign close-by.

"Then we jump over."

"Are you serious?"

"Fine then, how about we use Clank's Heli-Pack to get us over?"

Jinx stared at him. "That's actually not a bad idea." She turned to the robot clinging her leg. "What about it Clank? You up for it?" Hesitantly, Clank came up to Ratchet and activated his Heli-Pack. He started to fly upwards until he was about at the height of Ratchet's head.

"Here, grab on." Ratchet took hold of Clank's legs and they flew further up above the barbed fence. Slowly, Clank descended onto the other side of the fence and allowed Ratchet to get his feet onto the ground. He then flew back over the fence to get Jinx. In no time all three of them were together again.

"Alright then," Jinx started, "Now what?"

* * *

_The Lombax has entered the premises._

_Good, is the experiment there?_

_Yes sir. Shall I pick her up?_

_Yes, make sure that she isn't harmed in any way. But do whatever you want with the other two._

_Affirmative._

_Oh, and make sure their deaths are long and painful._

_Gladly._

* * *

Ratchet looked up into the sky with his ears flattened against his skull. A large helicopter flew over their heads. A large muscular man peered out to them. He seemed to be wearing a green suit with a weird logo on. He held a bullhorn to his mouth, and began to yell out, "WELCOME TO MY CHALLENGE COURSE!" Jinx peered over to Clank who had just landed in front of her. "Is that Quark?"

He shook his head gleefully. "Isn't he magnificent?!"

"Yeah...magnificent." she rolled her eyes and resumed watching Quark yell out to them.

"NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO PROVE YOURSELF, STRONG AND BRAVE...like me." Jinx stared back at Clank who was still eyeing Quark with obvious respect. This was the guy he was talking about? The one who was supposedly a hero? He seemed like one of those obnoxious guards back at the bunker!

Quark continued. "CONQURE IT AND YOU'LL JOIN IN MY FIGHT AGAINST EVIL!"

Ratchet gave him a confused look a yelled back to him, "HAVEN'T WE DONE ENOUGH ALREADY?"

"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Quark replied back, teasingly raising his hand to his ear.

"I SAID, HAVEN'T. WE. DONE..."

"SORRY, STILL HAVING TROUBE. TELL ME LATER."

"LATER?!" Ratchet motioned to Clank and Jinx. "WE MIGHT BE DEAD BY THEN!"

"WHAT?"

Ratchet rolled his eyes and turned to the both of them. "Alright, come on guys. Let's get going." Before they could leave though, Quark yelled back to them though the bull horn again. "WAIT JUST THERE! I ALMOST FORGOT SOMETHING!" Quark started to pull leavers in front of him, causing the helicopter to lower down to the ground. It finally landed onto the landing pad behind them. Quark called out to them from his seat.

"I see you've brought a friend with you. You should have told me that you were bringing company."

Ratchet gazed at Jinx. She returned his look. "Yeah, kinda picked her up on the way." He said with sarcasm.

"I'm afraid she'll have to come with me for a moment. Can't risk a civilian getting kill- I mean 'injured' on this assault course."

Ratchet motioned her forward. "Yeah, sure. She's all yours." He looked back at her tattered clothing. "By the way, I don't suppose you have any clothes she could borrow?" Quark followed his look at Jinx's clothes. And for a disturbingly long time at that. "I'm sure I have some clothes with me from the last Quark Cadet meeting." He reached out to the back of the helicopter and pulled out a black logoed T-shirt with the familiar Quark logo in the centre, and a pair of knee length jeans.

"One of the cadets left these in the back room. I think she was around your size." He passed them over to Jinx, and directed her into the helicopter. "Good luck guys!" she yelled out as the helicopter flew back into the air. Even above the loud wiring of the chopper blades, Jinx could still make out a mumble coming from Quark.

"They'll need it."

* * *

We hadn't had to wait for too long. A bit after me and Quark landed, they showed up. And not with a single scratch. It made me feel kinda happy seeing them like that. They way that we'd grown closer together gave me this weird fuzzy feeling inside. I don't know what it was. But it was a change to what I felt in the bunker.

I had no idea what Ratchet or Clank had went though in that course. And I don't want to. 'Cause no matter what they did or been though, it was nothing compared to what happened next.

* * *

Quark tapped his feet relentlessly against the hard metal surface. _How_ had they been able to get though _every_ stage?! Not even those soldiers Drek sent over to get evaluated could get though. Well, some did, but _barely_! His teeth grinded together. He couldn't risk everything getting called off because of them. They'd done well, but this would be as far as they could go.

Jinx stole a look at Quark then looked back down to the ring they were standing on. "How does Clank look up to this guy?" she thought. "If he really knew what he was like...come to think of it, Quark hasn't been the slightest bit supportive of Ratchet or Clank today. Either that or this guy's too dumb to know why we're even here." She took another glance at him. "Which seems very plausible."

Quark noticed her discrete looks. He glared at her with a _very_ forced smile. "Your friends certainly are talented."

She glared back at him. "If you say that then why do they have to do this to impress you?" Quark's smile faltered. His expression suddenly turned very sinister. "I'd watch your tongue if I were you." Jinx frowned for a moment. That look. That's exactly how Bishop looked at her. Why was it that he reminded her of Bishop so much? His face quickly returned to his usual cheery face.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, it's just..." Jinx stared at him in disbelief, "...you remind me of someone."

Quark posed with his hands on his hips in a heroic fashion. "Well, that someone must be great if they remind you of me." He gloated. She shook her head. "Ugh, where are those two when you need them?" she thought.

Suddenly, a tunnel opposite them was filled with echoing footsteps. Ratchet ran into the open with small beads of sweat soaking his fur. Clank immediately jumped off his back and ran over to Quark. Quark instantly lifted a hand at Clank, telling him to stop.

"Well, well. You two continue to surprise me." A circular hovering floor came up behind him. He grabbed Jinx before leaping onto the panel. "Step into the 'Ring of Heroes' and I will finally give you what you deserve." Jinx fought back at Quark's tight grip. She had a bad feeling about this.

Clank spun round to Ratchet. "Ratchet, this is no time for you to become cautious. We have reached our goal"

Ratchet scratched his head. "I dunno...there's something fishy going on." Jinx could feel the grip on her arm tighten. "Listen to your little metal friend, Ratchet." Quark spat out. "You destiny is mere steps away."

"It's just something doesn't seem right..." Clank ran up to Ratchet. He yanked his arm and hurried back to the 'Ring of Heroes'. "This is it!" he piped, "Quark's going to help us stop Chairman Drek!"

Quark grinned widely. "Why, thank you Clank." He held up a red button. "You've been...most helpful." Jinx watched in horror as Quark pressed the button, releasing a trap door underneath Ratchet and Clank and sending them to the floor.

**So another cliff hanger ending. How do these keep popping up into my mind? I'm really sorry about not posting sooner, and I know that it got a bit rushed midway.**

**I got writers block immediately after I posted the last chapter. Then I accidently stumbled across an old fandom I adored. And got a bit carried away with drafting this other story I was thinking of too...**

**Anyway, please R&R!**


	12. Personality Changes

**Personality Changes**

Jinx prepared to lunge out at Quark, but it seemed that he was one step ahead of her. He plunged a taser's end into her shoulder, sending her to the platform's floor.

"Don't try that with me, Exo. It won't get you anywhere." She growled at him in anger. He slapped on a pair of thick titanium handcuffs and a large heavy metal bowl on her tail. She squirmed to try and grab him but the added weight of the cuffs and the metal on her tail pulled her down.

Quark hovered down as he watched Ratchet fall to a small island surrounded by lava, and land with a sickeningly loud SLAM. He lay there for a moment, before his small companion flew down and landed on his stomach.

"Get _off_ of me you idiot!" he yelled before sweeping the tiny robot off his torso. Quark laughed from his platform before grinning maliciously down at them. "I _love_ it when a plan comes together." Clank looked up at him with sad eyes.

"What do you mean?" He was almost afraid to ask. He had a bad feeling that he knew exactly what Quark meant.

Ratchet did too. And he decided to take it out on Clank. "What do you think he means, _genius_?" he sneered, "He's not gonna help us. He's gonna kill us!" Quark grinned even wider. "You catch on quick." Jinx growled from underneath him. "Although here is a problem with your hypotenuse. _I'm_ not going to kill you." Ratchet looked at him confused. "You're not?"

"No. He is." Quark directed to their attention to a large horned beast chained to two unsteady stone pillars on another island opposite them. It gave out a mighty roar.

Jinx made out what she thought was Clank below her. If he wasn't a robot she was sure he would be crying. He was already starting to hyperventilate-if robots could hyperventilate. "But...why?" she could hear him say in a barely audible voice.

Quark just mimicked his pathetic look. "But why?" He taunted. His tone got Jinx's blood boiling. She could feel sudden urges of energy pulsing through her head.

"It's really not that difficult to decipher. I'm the official spokesperson for Drek's new planet. I can't have you two getting in the way of my comeback." Quark's platform started to move away from them. Jinx yelped in surprise.

"This isn't over Quark!" Ratchet yelled after them.

"No...But it will be soon."

Ratchet looked back at the Snagglebeast. It broke free of the pillars, and gave out another roar. What should he do? If he went after Quark he'd probably get eaten, or worse. But if he fought the Snagglebeast Quark would get away with Jinx!

"Ratchet!" Clank yelled from his back. He only managed to leap out of the way of the Snagglebeast's laser glare. "This thing has eye lasers!?" he breathed.

"Yes. Blargian Snagglebeasts are known for their many ways of attack. Laser eye sight is only one of-"

"Could you just keep that mouth of yours shut for at least ten minutes? Or do I have to yank it off myself!" Clank stared at him in shock before turning his head away. Ratchet felt good to get that off his chest, but for some reason it didn't feel right.

He shook his head and turned back to the matter at hand. The beast stood opposite him menacingly, before sending another death glare at him. The Lombax dodged it yet again and began firing all the guns he had. It roared again, and then started to run across a narrow bridge towards him. Ratchet began to back away, and threw several small circular bombs at it. They exploded into the monster's side, hurtling it off the bridge's side and into the lava below.

"Guess that does it."

Ratchet could hear Clank's cogs grinding ever so softly. "Ratchet." He whispered. He must have gotten the point when Ratchet told him to shut up. "Blargian Snagglebeasts have very resistant skin layers. Falling into that lava would probably not finish-"

The Snagglebeast leapt out from the lava and onto the small island Ratchet stood on. By the looks of it, it was _not_ happy.

* * *

On the other side of the base, Quark was dragging Jinx towards a small cargo ship. She was putting up a fight, and using every opportunity to get away.

"Why don't...you just...stay still!" Quark grunted. He tried a different approach. His large hands wrapped around the titanium ball on Jinx's tail and yanked hard.

"Why are you with Drek?" she shouted at him. "You're supposed to be a superhero, not a villain!"

"Drek isn't that bad, he just wants a planet for the Blarg. And if he's happy to throw in a nice pay-check every month then so be it. So several planets get destroyed in the process, who am I to say what's what in the galaxy." Jinx growled softly. How can anyone be so heartless? Or dim-witted!

"What about the people on those planets?" she whined, "You'd be killing them!"

"Ah, I can get a bigger fan base with the Blarg. You'd be surprised how many citizens want a piece of these." He flexed his muscles for a moment, sprouting a heroic pose. Jinx lay on the ground with angry thoughts filling her mind.

"_Come on, you know what to do."_

"Shut up!"

"_Just give me a little time for myself and he won't be a problem again. Why do you resist?"_

"I will not end up like the Dark Ones; you know that."

The voice smirked. "_Fine then. Want to play it the hard way, I'll play it the hard way."_ Jinx gasped in horror, before her body started to writher and the blue symbols on her arms started to glow. Quark saw the light coming from her and took a step back.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The restraints on her arms and tail melted onto the floor. Jinx glared back at him sending him cowering in fear. Her eyes were now a shade of dark red and did she ever look scarier.

* * *

The Snagglebeast had now fallen into the lava again, before leaping back out. It was now on its last scraps of energy as it charged towards Ratchet. He took out another bomb and threw it right at the beast's face. It impacted right into its jaw, before sending it again to the lava. It splashed right into it, except this time it didn't come back up. There was silence as Ratchet and Clank watched the nearly unrecognisable creature fall deeper and deeper into the lava, before its whole body was completely submerged and small sizzles and crackles came from the ugly liquid.

"Ratchet...I" Clank managed to get out before getting a death glare from his companion.

"Don't talk to me." He hissed, before walking out of the pit and into a ship bunker.

* * *

Quark was thrown back by a strong field of energy. Jinx walked closer towards him, her darkened eyes watching him with sick delight.

"I should have done a long time ago..." She said. Quark reached from behind him, and pulled out a large Pyrocitor.

"Eat flames!" he yelled out, before unleashing the attack.

Flames shot towards where Jinx was and completely surrounded her. They smothered the air and devoured everything in sight. Quark laughed manically. There was no way that she would have survived that!

Suddenly, the flamethrower stopped, and crumpled in Quark's hands. The flames vanished into thin air, revealing Jinx with her hand out in front of her, pointing at the Purocitor. She hadn't even moved from her spot and a large white energy field surrounded her, acting like a force field. Quark lifted the now useless flamethrower and prepared to swing it down on her head. Jinx merely reached out and grabbed the metal. Her hand glowed and underneath the weapon melted in her hands.

She chuckled. "Did you really think that this would be easy?" she purred. She threw away the flamethrower, brought out a large ball of light in her palm and connected it with Quark's jaw. He flew back to the end of the ship hanger. He weakly raised his hands in defeat. "Alright. You win." He muttered. He suddenly pulled out a small pellet.

"I call quits!" He threw it onto the floor, and the area filled with smoke. Once it had cleared Quark was gone. Jinx turned around to see Quark taking off a ship-the same one he was trying to get her into.

"It's been nice knowing you!" he called back behind her, and then took off as fast as he could. Jinx watched him leave, bringing up her hands and locking on his position and...She suddenly gasped for breath.

"_Alright, you've had your turn. Now get back inside here._"

"Aww, just a little bit longer." She moaned.

"_NO!_" Jinx's eyes returned purple and the burning blue symbols stopped glowing. She let out a huge sigh before looking at the clothes. For the first time since she had left the bunker, the clothes she was wearing hadn't been harmed.

"About time." She thought, before walking off to find Ratchet and Clank.

* * *

A small infobot flew in front of Ratchet. It waved it's arms around furiously. Clank came up from behind him.

"I wonder what that infobot is for?" he mused.

Ratchet smirked at him. "Maybe it can replace you."

A video relayed on the infobot's screen.

"We're pinned down. We're pinned down! The ships are hammering our position from the air." A large explosion boomed behind him, sending debris everywhere.

"That was a little too close! We need support NOW!" He paused for a moment. "Actually I need support. My entire battalion went awol on me and left me to fight this entire war on my own! If the enemy doesn't kill those guys, _I will_! I'm not gonna last much longer. Requesting immediate assistance, Over and OUT!"

Clank looked at Ratchet, clearly distressed. "Those are Drek's ships destroying that planet!" he cried, "We must help that poor commando!"

Ratchet looked at him with blazing eyes. "Are you serious?!" he yelled. Clank shrunk back. Ratchet started to walk away. "That's it! I am outta here." Clank watched him stomp towards the ship hanger.

"Quark's gonna be sorry he messed with me." He muttered under his breath. His eyes suddenly locked onto a large orange ship. "This should get me to Quark without any more distractions." His train of thought was soon broken by the annoying robot running towards him.

"Ratchet, please. This is not like you." He spun around to face him.

"What do _you_ know about me? You don't know anything about me!" Clank kept his mouth shut. "You've spent this whole time trying to find Quark! You haven't even bothered asking if I was old enough to have a licence to fly a ship!" Clank looked down in shame. He hadn't even thought of what Ratchet was thinking. Even if he was a jerk half of the time his thoughts still counted.

"And exactly where have you been?" Ratchet directed his next attack at Jinx, who he'd finally spotted out of the corner of his eye walking towards them. She looked at him, slightly confused by his outburst.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." He walked up closer to Jinx. "Am I supposed to keep watch over you just cause you did the 'my-parents-are-dead' talk?" Clank was certain that Jinx's eyes turned a shade darker.

"I'm sorry, _what_? It's not like I've been just sitting down and trying to look pretty!"

"Then where were you when Quark ditched us?"

"He tried to kidnap me! Or is that still not good enough for you?" Their faces were now just inches away from one another. Jinx's stare softened.

"What happened back there?" she said in a small voice. Ratchet pushed her away then walked back to the ship. He climbed into the cockpit. "I've got my own agenda now, and what I want is to find Quark." Clank and Jinx met each other's gazes. "What's up with him?"

"It's...complicated."

Ratchet suddenly banged the steering wheel in frustration. "How do you start this stupid thing?" Clank smiled softly at that. "It needs a robotic ignition system." He turned on his Heli-Pack and flew up to meet Ratchet, while grabbing Jinx's back in midair and pulling her up too.

"I will start this ship on one condition. You go and help that commando and that planet." Clank said as they landed. Ratchet smirked.

"So, blackmail huh?" After a moment's hesitation he finally spoke. "Fine." He pouted. "Just start the stupid ship."

* * *

**I am SO sorry for not updating sooner! The past couple of weeks have been jammed pack I didn't have enough time to even type a single word. Last night I was hunched over my laptop trying to finish this off ASAP.**

**...So, that's Chapter 11 done and dusted. What do you think? Please R&R!**


	13. Bossy Commandos

**12**

The trio flew out in silence. Ratchet stayed fixated on piloting the ship, Clank just watched the stars and pieces of meteor fragments pass by, and Jinx sat in the back arguing with her thoughts.

"Why did you have to do that to Quark?"

"_Oh please, I barely touched the jerk."_

Jinx rolled her eyes. "You know I can see everything you're doing when you're in control right? If this gets back to Drek..."

_The voice scoffed. "Like that's ever gonna happen. You worry too much."_

"And why do you think I worry so much? You know what would happen if I let you out for too long. Do you think this is game?"

"_Really now, it probably wouldn't be too bad. Who knows, maybe you'll enjoy the carnage."_

"Ugh!" Jinx screwed up her face in disgust. "You're sick, you know that?"

"_I'll take that as a compliment."_

Jinx looked outside and watched space fly by. She wondered to herself, would her parents be proud of her if they saw what she was now?

She caught Ratchet mumbling something at her. He looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for an answer.

"What?" Jinx said. Ratchet groaned impatiently. "Didn't just hear me?" She shook her head. "I said, don't you have anything else to wear besides that top?" Jinx looked down at her Quark cadet t-shirt. Ratchet looked back at it though the rear view mirror. His eyes betrayed his thoughts-he clearly wanted nothing less than to shred the shirt up whether Jinx had another top or not.

"Sorry, there wasn't any time to look for anything else." He growled at her answer. Clank suddenly interjected. "We can find a suitable top at Batalia." Ratchet looked back to the windshield. Jinx mouthed a quick thank you to the small robot. Clank nodded and turned back to Ratchet.

"We seem to be approaching Batalia." He said, seeing the round planet coming closer and closer. Ratchet gave him a hard glare. "You really just love to point out the obvious don't you tin-can? Too bad you couldn't have seen Quark's stinking trap when it was right under your nose." Clank opened his mouth to object but no words came out. What was the point trying to argue with Ratchet anyway? It wasn't like he was actually going to apologise, or feel sorry for him. Instead he silently looked away from both the passengers.

A strange feeling tingled through his circuit boards. Clank didn't know how to describe it. It was like...waves of sadness. "So, this is what the term 'crying' feels like." He thought to himself.

From the ground, a tall strapping character watched a small cargo vessel hover above the ground before collapsing with an unappealing crash. Three figures jumped out of the ship. The man growled. He was sure gonna give those deserters a piece of his mind.

"At attention you deserting maggots!" The three of them spun round to see a large commando with a lot of green armour on. And he didn't look happy. "Get into line soldiers!" Ratchet and Clank immediately stood up straight and gave a salute to the officer. Jinx stared at them as if they were crazy? What were they doing?

Suddenly, a fist connected with her jaw. She collapsed to the ground, clutching her sore jaw. "What was that for?" she yelled.

"You listen when you're addressed maggot! Now get in line with the others." Jinx glared at him, emitting a low growl. Ratchet quickly pulled her besides him before she could get another blow. "Just stand up straight." He hissed. She guessed he still was mad at her for what happened at Umbris.

"The next time you soldiers try to go AWOL on me I'll shoot you myself!"

Ratchet tried to interject. "Look I just wanna..."

"Zip it worm!" The commando shouted, "You see those bombers?" He pointed to the sky where several large blimps hung over the planet surface.

"If you don't get to the turrets and knock those ships outta the sky this whole planet's gonna be rubble! Meet me at the city entrance." And with that the commando ran off. Both Ratchet and Jinx glared after him. How dare he be so rude to them when they'd come to help! They had all the right to just leave him and let the city be ground to dust.

Clank just shook his head sadly. "Please, both of you. He needs our help."

"Oh yeah," Ratchet pushed Jinx out of his line of sight of Clank, "Then why don't you go and help him; into another trap!" He turned away from and waved his hand. "Go on then. Be a hero. Fight some evil." Clank looked down to his little metal feet, dejected. Suddenly, Jinx stood in front of Clank and lead him away.

"At least he's not a coward." She growled. Ratchet rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." He pointed at them. "As soon as I find Quark I'm selling you for scrap. And you'll be going back to the Blarg." Ratchet spat out before walking away. The two rejects looked at each other sadly before following the steaming Lombax. After all, what else could they do?

* * *

**Sorry again for the late update. And an extra sorry for the short chapter. I've had to begin revising for my GCSE mocks and my English Language exam -_- The next chapter will be longer and hopefully more interesting.**


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